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Closed Landfill Program

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Closed Landfill Program (CLP) is a voluntary program established by the Legislature in 1994 to properly close, monitor, and maintain Minnesota's closed municipal sanitary landfills. There are currently 109 closed landfills in the CLP.

Background information

The Minnesota Legislature enacted the Landfill Cleanup Act (LCA) in 1994 to ensure the proper closure and post-closure care at up to 112 closed, permitted municipal sanitary landfills located throughout the state. Based on this legislation, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) created the Closed Landfill Program (CLP) to administer the LCA mandates. Subsequent amendments to the LCA in 1999 and 2000 allowed additional sites to enter the CLP.

Any MPCA-permitted mixed municipal solid waste landfill that stopped accepting mixed municipal solid waste (MMSW) by April 9, 1994, and demolition debris before May 1, 1995, can qualify for application to this program. Some of the landfills in the CLP are owned by the state, while others remain in private or public ownership. Because the CLP is a voluntary program, not all closed permitted landfills are in the CLP; however, most closed, permitted facilities in the state have opted to join the CLP.

After the landfill owners/operators enter into an agreement with the MPCA (referred to as a Binding Agreement) and complete the requirements set forth in that agreement, the owner/operators are issued a Notice of Compliance (NOC). Once the NOC has been issued, the MPCA assumes responsibility for any remaining cleanup work, closure construction, and long-term care of the landfill. In some cases, past Superfund cleanup costs were reimbursed to owner/operators or other responsible parties.

The CLP determines the risk to public health and safety and the environment at each site using a scoring model. Landfills are scored based on hazards present at each site (monitoring data and field observations), the conditions that exacerbate those hazards (example: subsurface conditions), and the likelihood the public will be exposed to those hazards (distance to wells and buildings, population density). Landfills with high risk scores receive a high ranking or priority. This list helps the CLP prioritize where it will take response actions.

Insurance recovery effort

Minnesota statutes provided for the MPCA to seek contributions from the insurance industry to off-set some of the costs to run the CLP. For more information regarding the Insurance Recovery Effort, contact Tom Newman, Project Leader, 651-757-2609.

Land use plans

The LCA requires the MPCA to develop a Land Use Plan (LUP) for each qualified landfill in the CLP. All local land-use plans must be consistent with the MPCA's LUP.

Essentially, the LUP will compare land-use designations and zoning ordinances prescribed by the local unit of government and compare these to the MPCA's future land-use plans for the landfill. If these are in conflict, the local government's land-use designations and ordinances will need to be modified to become compatible with the MPCA's land-use plans.

Where there are significant changes at a landfill, the MPCA will provide local units of government with a Site Annual Report. Site Annual Reports contain data about the landfill, including possible gas migration and/or groundwater contamination that may be leaving the qualified facility. Site Annual Reports also contain important information local units of government should use to determine appropriate land-use designations for properties adjacent to the qualified facility to protect public health and safety.

Renewable energy options

Many of the landfills in the Closed Landfill Program are conducive to renewable energy opportunities, such as solar, because of the availability of large tracts of open space. Developers of solar farms have approached the Closed Landfill Program, often due to legislative requirements and economic incentives provided to the solar industry.

Recently, the Minnesota Legislature established the Made in Minnesota Solar Energy Production Incentive to encourage consumers to undertake solar development projects. This fact sheet provides more details about the incentive program and how the Closed Landfill Program anticipates saving electrical costs at two of its landfills:

Closed landfill locations

Use the interactive Landfill Cleanup Act Participants map to view a closed landfill's groundwater plume, groundwater area of concern, methane area of concern, and monitoring locations. Click on the features to view additional information. Share a zoomed in view of the map on social media. Print a map with a custom title.

Landfill fact sheets

Washington County Landfill Reconstruction Project

The Washington County Reconstruction Project began on June 2, 2009. The project is scheduled for completion by October 31, 2012, although it may be done sooner if all goes well. Project status updates and data from testing of ambient air quality and groundwater around the landfill will be posted here periodically. See links below for the data.